Cheating as subversive and strategic resistance: vocational students’ resistance and conformity towards academic subjects in a Swedish upper secondary school

Abstract

This article is based on a field study in two boy-dominated classes in a vocational programme in a Swedish upper secondary school. The focus of the article is the boys’ perspective on their cheating activities during lessons and tests within academic subjects. Since the boys often regarded these subjects as boring and useless in relation to their future work as construction workers, their cheating is analysed as a matter of anti-school attitudes and a form of resistance to these subjects. Even if cheating is a violation of school norms, celebrated and seen as amusing by the boys, it was also an acknowledgement of the authority of the school; that is they recognised that the academic subjects could have importance for them in the future. Thus, a ‘good’ grade was assumed to improve their chances of getting a job later.